'Readers interested in the origins of Christianity and its hidden esoteric current will find this an outstandingly interesting scholarly study.'

'Andrew Welburn reveals a genuine kinship between our own age and the early Christians.'

Recent work on the Dead Sea Scrolls and other ancient documents have provided much new knowledge of the early Christian Church and the messianic sects in the Holy Land before, during and after the time of Christ. These recently discovered and deciphered texts suggest that the boundaries between early Christian belief, Jewish tradition and the ancient pagan mysteries are not as well defined as has usually been believed. The Gnostic gospels clearly reveal that early Christianity had a powerful esoteric current, which is also reflected in the New Testament writings of Mark, Paul and, above all, John. During the early centuries after Christ, Gnostic Christians tried to preserve this tradition, using the archaic mysteries as a way to knowledge (gnosis) of higher cosmic truths. The Gnostic sects were finally suppressed by an authoritarian Church which would not tolerate dissent or deviation from the established Christian teachings. Andrew Welburn reveals a kinship between our age and the early Christians, and shows how we now have the chance to rediscover the spiritual world and meaning of the early years of the Christian era.

Andrew Welburn is a fellow of New College, Oxford. He is author of Gnosis: The Mysteries and Christianity, and Rudolf Steiner: Philosopher of Freedom.

2002-11-12 Fundamentalists, run for cover!

Don't you often wish you knew then what you know now? I wish I'd read this book years ago, before it was published! Thank you, Andrew. I read this book for the first time but keep coming back to it (I forget stuff, and I go through periods when I don't feel spiritual and prefer partying). But anyway.... If you've ever had niggling doubts about orthodox Christian explanations, or you never bought the idea that somehow Jesus and Christianity just 'happened' out of the blue in Palestine 2000 years ago, this book is for you. I'd discovered Rudolf Steiner some time before reading it, but Welburn gels Steiner's insights into a concrete context - exactly what was going on at that point in time in that region, the flowing together of many 'religious' strands, mainstream Jewish, Mithraic, Zarathustran, Essenic etc. For the first time I began to understand how Christianity evolved out of what went before (which is only logical, and rather embarassing for the Church to admit), I began to understand more about who the geezer we call Jesus really was in his historical setting. Welburn casts Steiner's insights in the light of archaeological discoveries since his death in 1925 - insights that are spookily accurate. Suffice it to say that this is a fascinating read. To all those questioning folk out there, I thoroughly recommend it. It's a story that'll open your eyes and blow your mind - so long as you're open and prepared, perhaps, to let go of some established churchy notions. Sadly, your local vicar is often the last dude qualified to explain to his congregation the REAL meaning of much of what is contained in the gospels - he's just peddling that outermost skin of the onion. Don't worry, this book should strengthen your faith in the Christ, not undermine it. So stop waiting for the Second Coming, it's already bloody well here!